"What Langsford is About": According to Lindsey

Miss Lindsey

Recently we've had the pleasure of working with this delightful 3rd grader 

who wrote the following about Langsford:

What Langsford is About

by Lindsey

Langsford is a place where kids go to get better at school work that is tricky for them.  I really like Langsford because I can learn in fun ways.  I can read interesting books while playing the Jewel Game. 

I also do spelling.  If I get a word wrong, I have a list that the word goes on.  If I get the word correct 5 days in a row the word gets checked off.  I also get to write sentences on the white board with a dry erase marker.  My favorite color is purple.

If I read 20 minutes a day I get to put a check on the reading board.  If I get checks all the way across the board, I get to get a prize out of Rhonda's special basket.  

I have a different teacher every hour I am here.  At the end of each hour, I get stickers to put on my sticker sheet.  Langsford is a good place to go to!

Thanks Lindsey!  We think you're pretty special too!!

Jack Speaks Out About Langsford Center

Last time you heard from Brion. Here is something another client wrote. This is from Jack, who is a second grader working on his reading and his handwriting.

What Jack has to say:

I go to Langsford. You do straight lines and curved lines. You read 5 minutes and do the vowel circle. And write in the air.

You get a break for 5 minutes. You can play games and get candy. My favorite game is pin ball. It is fun.

You get a sight word box. You do letter tiles. You learn a lot. You learn Magic E.

Nice job, Jack! Good spelling and your handwriting looks super!

Keep up the good work!

What Brion Has to Say About Langsford Center

I recently asked some of our current clients if they'd like to write about their experience at Langsford. Brion was the first to finish his paper. He actually worked on it at home! Brion is in the 3rd grade and has been coming to Langsford for a little over 3 weeks.

Here is what Brion had to say:

About Langsford

Langsford is good. It helps you with all the sounds. I have not been here very long, but I have learned a lot. I'm already getting better at reading.

The teachers are great here. They teach you a lot about sounds.

You have a reading folder and a sight word box. The reading folder is for when you read at home with your parents. You and the parent you read with, sign off on the paper in your folder. You also have to write the title on it. They give the book to you to read. You also read there with them. The sight word box is for when you read off a paper there. The words you don't know they write it on a card and put it in the box. You go over it until you have five marks on it. You also take spelling tests and this is how you do it. They ask you to spell the words they say. If you get it right you don't write it down on the paper. If you get it wrong, you have to write it down on the paper and spell in until you get five A's next to each other.

You learn a lot about the vowel sounds. They want you to do your best handwriting on all the papers you do there. Air writing is fun because you write and it doesn't show up, but you have to imagine in in your head.

It is fun here at Langsford!

Thank you, Brion, for your thoughtful response.

Huh?

Hmmmmmmm.......

I know you think you understand what you thought I said,

but I'm not sure that what you heard is what I actually meant!

Have you ever been on either end of this scenario? It is frustrating for both parties. Language comprehension is essential for one to communicate effectively with others. A person must be able to not only receptively understand language, but to also be able to use his or her expressive vocabulary to effectively convey that information to others.

Surprisingly, one can be highly intelligent and still have difficulty with language comprehension. At Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers, our experience in teaching reading over the last 19 years has been that many who are struggling to comprehend are simply lacking the foundational skills necessary for good comprehension.

Research indicates that people with good comprehension utilize concept imagery to facilitate understanding. Simply put, they make mental movies in their head when reading or listening.

Have you ever tried to put together a bookcase or a child's bicycle? Did you find the diagrams that accompanied the directions to be of more help than the written directions? That's because the diagrams helped your brain to see the relationships between the pieces and how they would work together as a whole. Concept imagery is very much like this.

Clients who we tutor in comprehension at Langsford do systematic work to develop their imaging skills, starting with a simple sentence and building up to multi-page units of material. Once they have the information pictured in their minds, they practice recalling and verbalizing it in a clear and concise manner. Emphasis is also placed on determining the main idea and important details, as well as on developing higher order thinking skills (such as making inferences, drawing conclusions, or making evaluations of material).

Many people make mental movies in their minds naturally and without prompting. For those that don't or those who do not do it efficiently, structured practice to develop their concept imagery and verbalizing skills can make both school and interaction with others easier and less frustrating.

In conclusion,

I hope that what you read and what you think I said

matches what I actually said and what I meant to say!

Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers

2520 Bardstown Road

Louisville, Kentucky

(502) 473-7000

We teach reading and learning skills for life. Spread the word!

When Your Child has a Reading Problem....and ADHD

Learning difficulties don't like to travel alone. They almost always have another issue accompanying them. Often times, this "companion" is ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

A diagnosis of ADHD is based on behavioral symptoms of inattention. But evidence suggests that children with ADHD also often exhibit cognitive weaknesses in other areas essential to learning, including: 1) executive functioning 2) working memory and 3) processing speed.

These are important facts to consider when determining how to best address the specific needs of your child. Just as you need to consider these facts, we consider them in determining how Langsford can best meet the learning needs of your child.

That's why when your child comes to Langsford their work will be:

One-to-One

We provide specific instruction developed and tuned weekly, (sometimes day-to-day) for each child by their assigned Learning Coordinator. Your child's instructors will be working with him or her on a one-to-one basis so that they can adapt their teaching techniques to best serve your child alone.

If needed, they can accommodate your child's learning style by allowing more time to complete tasks or process information, or by providing as much repetition as your child requires to master a new task.

Highly Interactive

Our work is highly interactive--no work sheets or boring lectures. We keep your child engaged by using manipulatives, visual stimuli, and making tasks into games when appropriate. We ask lots of questions, model tasks when needed, and work at whatever pace is optimum for the student.

High Interest

We understand your child cannot sustain attention for long periods of time. Therefore, we move through a variety of tasks each session, spending no more than about 10 minutes on any given activity. We select reading material according to your child's interests and independent reading level. We keep the sessions moving and fun!

Rewarding

We offer lots of praise and encouragement. We are skilled at figuring out what motivates different children, and we work out an individualized reward system when needed. This might mean a goal sheet, earning points, or getting stickers or a trip to the treasure box for a job well done!

The learning difficulties and ADHD symptoms that your child experiences are unique to him or her. Understanding this and structuring intervention that is as individualized as your child is the key to your child being a successful learner.

"You signed me up for what?!"

This is for all you kids out there who have just been told by your parents that they have signed you up to come to Langsford.

I know what you must be thinking. "What a bummer--working on my summer break, " or, "oh man, I have to go there everyday AND after school?!" But I think you'll be very surprised once you get here. We will be doing things that are very different from what you've done at school.

All of our work is one-on-one and we have some really fun instructors. Some are women and some are guys. They've been taught some special stuff so that they know how to teach you in a way you can learn. Their goal is always to make whatever is hard for you-reading, spelling, comprehension-easier. If it's easier, you'll like it better and you won't have to spend so much time laboring over homework at night!

Most kids come every day, for 2 hours. Don't panic! It's not that bad. You'll have two 55 minute sessions with a 5 minute break in between. During the break, kids socialize in the lobby, eat a snack, or talk to some of their instructors. We even have some cool puzzles and games you can play with during the breaks.

In sessions, a lot of the tasks you do will feel like games. Our thinking is that learning should be fun! You'll have different instructors for different hours, so you'll get a chance to work with several really interesting people while you are here.

We're going to do some activities with you that will help develop your brain's ability to process information. We'll also teach you some cool rules and strategies that will make reading and understanding what you read easier.

While you're here you'll have a Learning Coordinator that will figure out the best ways to teach you to make things easier. They're really easy to talk to and you can tell them if something feels hard or if you think you're ready for a challenge.

The time will go by really quickly while you are in sessions, and we won't be sending home a pile of homework with you! Usually we just ask that you read 20 or 30 minutes a day outside of Langsford. We've got some really cool books and we'll help you pick out some that you'll enjoy.

Most kids really like coming here! We've had kids come from all over, as far away as Dubai and Africa! How cool is that?!

Remember: We're going to make learning easier for you, and we plan to have a good time with you while we're doing it!

We can't wait to start working with you!

All Work and No Play Makes for No Fun!

Have you ever noticed that boys will be boys, wherever they are? Although the breaks are short between sessions at Langsford, the kids seem to make fast friends. Several kids at the Middletown office have recently had their mothers make play dates for them with their new found friends.

The boys, in particular, like to outdo each other figuring out the complex puzzles in the waiting area. And sometimes they look for mischief to get into. At Middletown, that means they head for the Learning Coordinator's office! They know they can usually find something fun there.

On a recent afternoon, Alex and Mitchell wandered into Rhonda's office on break, and the three of them proceeded to make cool pictures of themselves with the help of Rhonda's laptop computer. (Don't tell her boss!) Above is Alex, who has a good head on his shoulders. ;-)

This one is Alex and Mitchell. Mitchell is the one with the muscles! He was feeling a little "blue" that day. ;-) Now-break's over-back to work guys!

POWER OUTAGE HITS LANGSFORD! STUDENTS CONTINUE WORK WITHOUT A HITCH!

What does dedication look like? It looks like this! Recently Langsford was struck by an afternoon power outage. In a building with very few windows, this could certainly be a problem. But, as you can see, where there's a will, there's a way! After just a few moments of scurrying, everyone was quickly back to work.

Grace and her instructor Kara found an office desk next to a window to work at.

Not to be outdone, Shelby and her instructor Rachel simply moved outside into the sunshine! In short order, all of our clients had found new places to work that didn't require electric lighting.

When you're dedicated to becoming good readers, you don't let anything stand in your way! Certainly not a little power outage!

Why Kids Want to be Able to Spell

Carter is a charismatic kid who will be going into 3rd grade in the fall. He just started sessions this week. While he's been great once he gets here, he's been giving his mom a little bit of a hard time in the mornings about why he has to come.

Today Mom came in and said she thought he wouldn't be avoiding coming any more. Last night they were watching Carter's favorite show, Wheel of Fortune. Carter solved the puzzle before Mom!

She asked, "Carter-how did you figure that out?" He said, "a-u. We've been doing letter combos at Langsford. a and u go together in some words." Then, "Whoa......maybe Langsford will pay off for me after all!"

Jon: A Real Goal Getter!

Jon is a first grader who recently came in with his spelling test for the previous week. He was excited to announce that he'd gotten all the words correct for the first time this year.

A lot of our clients have goal sheets to help keep them on track in sessions and to promote independence in using their new skills. Jon has a goal sheet with things like:

ask the teacher questions

try my best

and follow the steps for tasks.

As Jon was about to start his session, he asked his instructor if he could add a new goal to his goal sheet. She asked what he wanted to add. He said, "To make a good grade on my spelling test every week!"

Katie Reads The Wig

This is Katie. While on her break between sessions the other day, she was sharing her excitement with everyone in the lobby about how she finished reading a whole book and was able to decode all the words!

The photos above show her in sessions reading that book, titled The Wig. It's a story about a dog who gets into some mischief which Katie found really funny. In the second photo, Katie is showing us a picture of the dog wearing the wig.

Nice job Katie!

If Jack Becomes Famous, He'll Be Ready...

to sign lots of autographs!

Here is a picture of Jack, taking a break from working on his handwriting. The work Jack is doing falls under the area of visual-motor processing. Click here to learn more.

Teddy's Reading Novels

When Teddy first came to work with us, his Learning Coordinator, Mary, created a customized plan of action that developed his reading and spelling up to the simple multi-syllable level. Upon finishing that phase of work, he stopped attending daily sessions and then returned the following summer for 2 weeks to work at the complex multi-syllable level. This is often done with our younger clients so we can give them time to stabilize their new skills and then work on the more complex levels at the same time this type of work is increasing in school, usually after the third grade year.

This past summer, Teddy returned for a one week review. Teddy is now at the level where he is beginning to read novels so we also did some work on Novel Noting. Our Novel Noting sessions help with organizing and planning this type of school reading to gain a deeper understanding of the book. Our work includes ways to organize the setting and characters, develop main ideas of each chapter, and also learn new vocabulary words.

Will's Smiling Face

Will and one of his Instructors, Fran, stopped their session for a moment to pose for a picture for the blog.



Here he is a few days later at his last day celebration.

Michael's Becoming an Independent Learner

Michael just finished writing a sentence dictated to him by his Langsford Instructor. He's now checking it over for any possible errors he may have made with his spelling. This is a very important part of the work done at Langsford. Our goal is to help all of our students learn to become self-correcting and independent with their skills.

Mallory has Gone Fishin'

This is Mallory and she's playing a game of 'Go Fish' with her instructor as a way to review her sounds. Students love playing games and many instructors have come up with great ideas to help kids learn while at the same time having fun. Sharing such ideas is part of what we do at our bi-monthly staff meetings too.

What Can You Do In Five Minutes?

I took a photo of these energetic boys while at the Middletown office a few weeks back. Langsford's sessions are 55 minutes long and the students get a 5 minute break, so sometimes we all like to go outside and enjoy some fresh air and sunshine.

And if you're wondering why the fellow on the left, Will, has that look on his face, well, gee, you would probably look like that too if you had to hold up 3 other boys. (By the way, those other boys from left to right are Kasey, Austin and Scott.)

Ben's Point of View on Langsford

In recent posts, we've heard what Emily and Wilson, both elementary students, had to say about Langsford. Below is a paper written by highschool Junior, Ben, for his English Class.

Almost every day after school I have attended Langsford Learning Center to get help with reading, writing, spelling and fluency. Langsford is different from other tutoring because its instructors use special learning techniques to help students develop skills to use in their daily lives.

During my first hour I work with single syllable words. First I usually do a nonsense word chain where one thing changes each time: gonsh>gonth>ganth>ranth>renth. Then I usually read and spell some real and nonsense words.

In my second hour I work with multi-syllable words. First I do another word chain like my first hour but this time with words containing more than one syllable: reinsoitive>reinsloitive>disinsloitive>disinsloiture. Then I read and spell some real and nonsense words with more than one syllable.

Some things that I do both hours, for example are read from several different books. Also I read from my fluency packet. I look through my sight word box and my sight word spelling list.

Personally I do not like Langsford because of all the work I do there, however I have to admit it has helped me a lot no matter how much I don't want to say it did. I like a lot of the teachers, some more than others. I think a lot of the things they make me do are stupid but they actually work.

Finally I must say that if you ever need help with school I would suggest you go to Langsford Learning Center.

Katharine Takes a Break

The Langsford roving photographer was at the Middletown office recently and sat in on one of Katharine's sessions. Here she is taking a break from writing letters to give everyone reading the blog a big smile.

Oh, and you're probably wondering who that is over to the side. Those are the capable hands of one of our Middletown Learning Coordinators, Rhonda. Want to know more about her? Rhonda is our current staff member who is in our Staff Spotlight and we will soon be posting some some interesting tidbits of information about her.